Charlie St. Cloud looked to be a melodramatic failure of epic proportions. Just take one look at the tagline on the poster (“Life is for Living” … brilliant) with the photo of Zac Efron and his thousand-yard stare and you get the picture. Charlie St. Cloud is similar to Angelina Jolie’s latest film Salt in that they are two competently made pictures of stories we’ve seen many times in other far greater films.
Wonder where on earth the idea for Dinner for Schmucks came from? Well, it’s this little French farce called Le Diner de Cons aka The Dinner Game. The two films will be far different from one another, but both revolve around a business dinner where men bring idiots to be made fun of.
It was one of the most controversial decisions in the history of comics. Back in September of 1988, DC Comics opened up a 24-hour vote where fans would decide the fate of Jason Todd, the second Robin in the famed Batman canon. By less than 100 votes, fans decided that Batman would not make it in time to save Jason from the clutches of the Joker and thus complete the now legendary “A Death in the Family” story arc. Flash forward 20 years now (about four or five in the actual DC Universe) and DC decided to find a way to bring Jason back. Batman: Under the Red Hood is the story of how Batman’s greatest failure comes back to haunt him in ways he never could have imagined.
Movies such as Repo Men — which comes out on DVD and Blu-ray today — are those that take interesting, even fascinating premises and butcher them to the point of disfigurement; a bland cookie- cutter version of how the plot could have unravelled. In addition to the obvious plot arc that can easily be surmised from the trailers, any good will built up over the running time is similarly bastardized by a horrendous final twist that is not only nonsensical but cheap. This reveal is blatantly alluded to early on but even for those who did not pick up on it will not be surprised by the finale.
Angelina Jolie’s latest actioner Salt might have its fair share of explosive action, but even though it promises a quickened heart rate, it lacks any real substance, just like the mineral from which it gets its title. Ultimately, you will leave the theater wanting more. But did I like Salt? Perhaps (In fact, maybe a little too much).
Calling Cop Out — which came out on DVD and Blu-ray Tuesday — a “buddy cop” film would be a gross misnomer. To qualify as such, we would actually have to witness some aspect of “buddy.” Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan have absolutely no chemistry and I did not believe for a single second they would ever be friends, or even be able to tolerate one another for that matter.
By the film’s definition, inception is the process of entering someone’s mind through his dreams and planting an idea so deep within the subconscious that when he wakes up, the idea feels organic and natural. I would like to know who broke into Christopher Nolan’s dream space and dropped the seed that would become the idea for this film, because whoever it is, “it” is an indisputable genius.
Over-promotion is the first sign of a lacking film. Another clue is a release date change too near to opening day. But The Sorcerer’s Apprentice had little choice opening against Christopher Nolan’s Inception. The over-the-top adventure starring Nicolas Cage tries its hardest to create movie magic, but ends up placing too much emphasis in its least redeeming aspects.
Greenberg, new on DVD and Blu-ray today, stars Ben Stiller in the title role as one of the most realistically complex characters in a film in years. Baumbach and writer/producer/actress Jennifer Jason Leigh have built a character with tons of idiosyncrasies and complexes and some how a comedian in Stiller manages to bring them all to life in convincing fashion. Both he and costar Greta Gerwig as Florence have fascinatingly real characters with diagnosable problems and that’s the chief strength of the film.
The Bounty Hunter’s ineptness is sprung from something other than overt awfulness. Certainly, its flaws can be easily extracted but most pitfalls are suffocated in such a thick smog of banality that is manages to rise to a different platform of unwatchability. At least some of the worst movies of all time are memorable in their own twisted way. This latest “romantic” “comedy” which comes out tomorrow on DVD and Blu-ray, is the cinematic equivalent of a NyQuil and Lunesta slurry.
